liJ 

795 


Second  Message 


To 


Seamen 


His  Relationship  to  the  Harbor   Workers 
and  the  Shipowners 


By    ANDREW   FURUSETH 


Issued  by  the 

International  Seamen's  Union  of  America 
Chicago,  111.,  1919 


429 


Second  Message 

To 

Seamen* 


His  Relationship   to   the  Harbor   Workers 
and  the  Shipowners 


By    ANDREW   FURUSETH 


Issued  by  the 

International  Seamen's  Union  of  America 
Chicago,  111.,  1919 


>429 


"The  bondman  can  feel  no  responsibility;  he  can  have  no  sense  of  morality, 
of  self-respect,  or  of  honor;  because  he  has  no  individual  will.  He  is  alone. 
Association  for  mutual  aid  is  unthinkable.  Deprived  of  his  human  estate  he  is 
degraded  below  the  animal  or  vegetable  kingdoms.  *  *  *  Any  man  compelled 
to  labor  against  his  will,  be  it  by  an  individual  or  by  society,  is  a  bondman.  Let 
the  American  People  beware  of  bondage  being  imposed  upon  any  class.  Tolera- 
tion of  it  by  workers  is  treason  to  American  ideals.  To  resist  it  is  the  highest 
duty  though  the  result  may  be  prison  or  death." 


"The  share  which  any  particular  nation  had  in  the  use  of  and  the  power  on 
the  sea  depended  always  on  the  number  of  its  people  who  obtained  their  living 
by  following  sea  occupations.  Fishermen  on  the  coasts,  later  on  the  banks, 

whalers,  first  in  small  boats  along  the  coasts,  later  in  large  vessels  following  the 

, 
whale  or  seeking  him,  trading  in  their  own  produce,  or  carrying  the  produce  of 

others — these  are  merchant  seamen.  Valuable  cargoes  tempted  others  into  piracy, 
and  the  merchant  vessel  was  armed  to  resist  the  pirate.  These  were  the  early 
fighting  vessels  or  men-o'-war.  In  all  instances  the  men  employed  were  seamen. 
Seamen  were  always  considered  a  special  part  of  the  national  defense. 


"To  develop  a  large  number  of  trained  seamen,  to  foster  and  develop  a 
tendency  to  the  sea  in  the  population,  has  ever  been  the  care  of  statesmanship. 
Nations  have  fought  over  fishing  grounds,  not  because  of  the  fish  to  be  caught, 
but  the  seamen  to  be  trained  in  the  use  of  those  grounds. 


Second  Message  to  Seamen 


His  Relations  to  the  Harbor  Workers 
and  the  Shipowners 


THE  •PERSONNEL  OF  THE  MERCHANT  MARINE 

Sea  power  has  at  all  times  meant  World  power.  Control  over 
the  sea  has  at  all  times  brought  independence  and  wealth.  Sea  power 
was  always  in  the  seamen.  The  vessels  (the  tools  used)  have  been 
altered  and  improved  upon  as  experience  and  knowledge  increased. 
But  the  sea  has  remained  unchanged  through  all  the  ages.  So  also 
the  seamen.  The  qualities  of  mind  and  body  that  were  needed  in  the 
seamen  of  the  earliest  times  are  yet  needed  and  there  can  be  no  real 
seamen  where  those  qualities  are  not.  The  sea  has  been  a  prison  wall 
to  the  weak  and  timid,  a  highway  to  the  strong  and  a  field  of  honor 
to  the  daring  and  venturesome  among  men.  The  sea  has  no  affinity 
with  bondage  and  whether  it  was  in  trade,  in  discovery,  or  in  battle 
the  victory  was  to  the  free. 

The  sea  power  of  the  Nordic  Race  was  developed  in  freedom. 
The  seamen  of  this  race  knew  nothing  of  bondage  as  applied  to 
themselves.  The  common  hazard  made  them  loyal  to  each  other 
and  ready  to  obey  orders  from  their  leaders.  They  were  patient  of 
discipline,  impatient  of  bondage.  The  sea  power  of  the  North  de- 
veloped in  and  by  this  spirit  grew  strong  enough  to  meet  and  over- 
come the  sea  power  of  Rome,  which  had  destroyed  the  sea  power 
of  Carthage,  whose  seamen  were  and  felt  themselves  to  be  less  free. 
The  South  of  Europe  never  knew  the  kind  of  freedom  that  was  the 
very  breath  of  life  with  the  people  of  the  North.  The  seamen  of  the 

3 


210S875 


South  always  shared  in  that  misfortune  with  other  people  of  the 
South. 

Man  is  not  by  nature  a  seaman.  The  sea,  the  vessel,  the  life  is 
so  distinct  from  man's  natural  mode  of  life  that  it  has  always  taken 
years  of  training  to  make  a  seaman.  His  thoughts  and  feelings  need 
the  training  as  absolutely  as  does  his  body.  Nearly  all  real  seamen 
began  the  life  in  early  youth.  It  was  always  one  step  at  a  time  from 
boy  to  master.  The  sea  has  not  changed.  Human  nature  has  not 
altered  very  materially.  The  training  is  as  much  needed  as  it  ever 
was.  Seamen  are  not  made  on  shore.  They  are  not  taught  in  a 
correspondence  school.  As  no  man  became  a  swimmer  except  by 
going  into  the  water  so  no  man,  whatever  his  ancestry,  becomes  a 
seaman  except  at  sea. 

In  days  gone  by,  while  the  shipowner  was  fully  liable  to  the 
shipper  and  the  passenger  no  laws  were  needed  to  assure  efficient 
and  sufficient  manning.  Self-interest  stood  guard  to  induce  safety 
and  the  shipowner  insisted  upon  the  highest  possible  skill.  Limita- 
tion of  liability  and  insurance  has  altered  this  situation  and  the 
safety  provided  by  custom  must  now  be  furnished  by  law.  In  the 
deck-department  the  able  seaman  was  always  the  unit  towards  which 
the  BOY  worked,  from  which  the  OFFICER  advanced. 

THE  BOY 

• 

Must  be  of  good  physique,  have  good  eyes,  good  ears  and  a  stout 
heart.  When  he  comes  on  the  vessel  everything  is  new  and  strange. 
He  is  gradually  being  accustomed  to  his  new  surroundings,  he  is 
learning  to  stand  on  the  platform  that  is  never  still,  he  is  learning  to 
walk,  his  body  is  gradually  acquiring  the  sea-habit — he  is  getting 
sea-legs.  He  is  doing  such  work  as  he  can,  assisting  the  able  seaman 
or  the  ordinary  seaman  in  the  work  on  the  vessel.  When  he  has 
learned  sufficiently,  and  it  usually  takes  about  one  year,  he  becomes  an 

ORDINARY  SEAMAN 

.As  such  he  isjearning  more  about  the  vessel  under  the  con- 
tinually shifting  conditions.  His  sea-legs  are  being  perfected.  He 
is  continuing  to  learn  more  and  more  about  the  vessel's  gear,  the 
names,  what  it  is  used  for,  and  where  it  is  found.  In  daylight  or 
darkness  he  must  be  able  to  find  it.  He  is  learning  to  use  the  gear, 
to  repair  it,  and  where  possible  to  replace  it.  As  he  becomes  more 

4 


skillful  he  becomes  more  useful  and  after  about  two  years  as  ordinary 
seaman  he  becomes  by  virtue  of  his  skill  an 

ABLE  SEAMAN 

The  work  required  from  him  is  such  that  he  needs  the  physical 
development  which  is  not  usually  reached  before  the  age  of  nineteen 
and  practically  all  countries  make  this  age  the  minimum.  He  must 
now  be  so  accustomed  to  the  sea  that  he  can  stand  on  his  feet  in  all 
kinds  of  weather  without  supporting  himself  by  his  hands,  because 
he  has  other  use  for  them.  His  body  must  have  acquired  the  faculty 
of  automatically  so  corresponding  to  the  vessel's  movements  that 
he  can  stand  on  his  feet,  see  with  his  eyes,  hear  with  his  ears,  use 
his  judgment,  exercise  his  will  and  make  his  body  obey.  If  he  has 
not  learned  this  and  is  yet  alive,  he  has  in  probability  but  a  short 
time  to  live.  He  must  know  the  vessel,  her  appliances,  her  gear  and 
the  boats.  He  must  be  able  to  use,  to  repair  and  as  far  as  possible 
to  replace  the  gear  and  appliances  and  to  lower  and  manage  the 
boats.  He  must  by  this  time  have  acquired  so  much  of  the  traditions 
and  lore  of  the  sea  that  he  has  a  full  appreciation  of  his  duty  to  his 
shipmates,  the  passengers,  the  ship,  and  her  cargo. 

Boatswain,  boatswain's  mate,  and  quartermasters  are  able  seamen 
picked  to  perform  more  special  work  and  this  choice  is  usually  made 
because  of  special  fitness  or  because  he  possesses  qualities  of  com- 
mand. These  ratings  are  usually  considered  "Petty  Officers"  but 
they  are  in  fact  just  able  seamen — given  a  special  rating. 

The  able  seaman  ought  to  sail  as  such  for  at  least  one  year  before 
he  be  permitted  to  present  himself  for  examination  as  an  officer. 
Having  learned  the  ship,  her  gear  and  appliances  and  something  about 
what  the  ship  will  do  under  her  power,  mechanical  or  sail,  and  feeling 
an  ambition  to  become  an  officer  he  will  go  to  a  Navigation  School 
to  acquire  the  knowledge  necessary  to  find  his  position  by  dead 
reckoning  and  astronomical  observations.  When  he  has  obtained  a 
certificate  to  this  effect  and  obtains  a  position  as  fourth,  third  or 
second  mate,  he  is  in  fact  an 

OFFICER 

As  he  was  learning  to  use,  repair  and  replace  the  vessel's  gear, 
he  is  now  learning  what  a  vess'el  can  be  made  to  do  under  sail,  steam 
or  other  mechanical  power  under  different  conditions  as  to  weather1 

5 


and  sea.  The  master  is  there  to  teach  him  and  he  is  given  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  his  own  judgment  by  the  experience  through  which 
he  is  now  passing. 

From  among  the  fourth  mates  the  third  mates  are  selected  after 
either  a  customary  or  a  statutory  period  served  in  the  lower  capacity. 
The  wise,  if  not  always  the  customary,  method  is  to  select  for 
advancement — from  a  lower  to  a  higher  rating  or  grade,  those  who 
give  evidence  of  the  greatest  capacity.  As  experience  increases  the 
certificates  are  raised  until  the  grade  of  first  mate  or  chief  officer  Is 
reached.  From  these  (after  proper  examination  for  a  master's  cer- 
tificate) the  employer — the  shipowner — selects  the  man  to  whom  he 
will  entrust  his  vessel.  He  is  now  expected  to  know  all  that  a  vessel 
can  be  expected  to  do  under  the  skillful  use  of  such  motive  power 
as  the  vessel  has.  But  aside  from  these  accomplishments  he  must 
know  the  master's  duty  in  port  and  at  sea  under  the  laws  of  his  own 
country  and  the  laws  of  nations.  He  must  know  something  of  medi- 
cine, to  give  at  least  first  aid  to  the  injured  or  sick.  He  must  in 
order  to  be  a  successful  master  know  how  to  pick  out  efficient  officers 
and  men,  how  to  make  the  best  use  of  men  and  materials  in  keeping 
the  vessel  in  order  and  away  from  the  repair  yards  and  repair  shops. 
Upon  this  will  depend  the  quickness  of  the  turn  around  and  the  ability 
of  the  vessel  to  pay  dividends. 

The  development  from  boy  to  master  must  be  open  to  all  as 
nearly  as  possible  upon  equality.  Only  thus  can  the  calling  acquire, 
develop  and  keep  the  best  service,  which  means  the  best  men. 

THE  ENGINE  DEPARTMENT 

In  this  department  as  in  the  deck  department,  the  advance  from 
wiper  or  coal  passer  to  chief  engineer  must  be  step  over  step,  based 
upon  fitness,  experience,  practical  and  theoretical  knowledge  ascer- 
tained through  examinations  and  periods  of  service  in  each  rating. 
This  work  is  different  from  the  work  on  deck  but  it  is  not  different 
in  the  necessity  for  acquisition  of  the  sea-habit,  the  sea-mind  and 
sea-legs.  In  all  but  important  and  serious  repairs  the  personnel  must 
be  able  to  keep  the  vessel  from  the  repair  shop.  The  lack  of  skill  in 
the  men  and  officers  increases  coal  and  oil  consumption,  decreases 
the  speed  and  causes  the  vessel  to  go  to  the  repair  shop  when  in  port. 
The  general  manager's  attention  will  be  peremptorily  called  to  this 
at  such  times  as  he  compares  the  expenses  of  the  last  report  and  the 
previous  ones. 

6 


The  personnel  in  the  steward's  department  must  be  developed 
in  the  same  gradual  manner  as  the  other  two  departments.  Here  the 
lack  of  skill  will  make  itself  seen  and  heard  after  every  trip  through 
the  progressive  loss  of  passengers,  the  waste  of  food,  quarrels  on 
the  vessel  and  a  constant  and  expensive  turn  over  in  the  crew. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  everything  else  being  equal,  the 
victory  in  competition  will  go  to  the  highest  skilled  crew  if  employed 
when  and  where  possible.  In  this  as  in  all  other  competitive  business 
the  highest  skilled  man  is  the  most  dangerous  competitor;  but  aside 
from  the  comparatively  few  ports  where  men  can  be  obtained  from 
shore  to  do  the  repair  needed  there  are  the  much  greater  numbers  of 
sea  ports  where  no  such  conveniences  are  at  hand.  This  will  include 
about  75  per  cent  of  the  world's  sea  ports.  To  be  able  to  earn  the 
most  money  a  vessel  must  be  able  to  go  to  any  and  all  places  where 
she  can  enter  with  the  depth  of  water  to  float  her.  With  any  accident 
in  or  near  such  places  the  vessel  that  has  an  inefficient  or  too  small 
a  crew  is  at  a  great  disadvantage  and  the  extra  cost  will  easily  eat 
up  her  other  earnings. 

The  vessel  with  the  highest  skilled  crew  has  at  all  times  the 
advantage.  To  develop  such  personnel  is  therefore  of  the  highest 
importance.  But  such  a  personnel  can  only  be  developed  where  the 
men  are  employed  to  do  all  work  possible  in  port.  This  develops 
skill  and  the  steadiness  of  employment  keeps  it  with  and  in  the 
business. 

THE   PERSONNEL  AND  ITS   GRADUAL  DETERIORATION 

The  first  historical  knowledge  of  seamen  and  their  status — place 
in  society — comes  from  Babylonia — The  Laws  of  Hammurabi.  The 
seaman  was  then  a  pure  chattel  slave.  In  the  Southern  or  Mediter- 
ranean world  the  seaman  seems  to  have  worked  up  from  slavery  to 
the  status  of  a  member  of  the  Roman  Collegia — something  between 
a  slave  and  a  freeman — a  freedman.  It  seems  to  have  been  something 
like  the  class  bondage  properly  belonging  to  the  Hindu  system  of 
castes.  Whatever  it  was  it  was  not  freedom  and  no  real  seaman 
ever  grew  or  could  grow  under  such  conditions.  The  bondman  can 
feel  no  responsibility;  he  can  have  no  sense  of  morality,  of  self-respect 
or  of  honor;  because  he  has  no  individual  will.  He  is  alone.  Asso- 
ciation for  mutual  aid  is  unthinkable.  Deprived  of  his  human  estate 
he  is  degraded  below  the  animal  or  vegetable  kingdoms.  In  having 
thoughts  that  he  cannot  utter  to  men  he  is  like  an  animal,  in  having 

7 


impulses  that  he  cannot  follow,  he  is  less.  In  his  lack  of  mobility  he 
he  is  like  a  tree,  in  his  inability  to  obey  the  laws  of  his  being  he  is  less. 
His  imagination  is  corrupted,  his  thought  darkened.  He  is  dominated 
by  fear — the  mother  of  hate  and  treachery.  He  hates  his  work; 
because  it  forced  from  without,  not  wished  from  within.  The  feeling 
of  his  bondage  expresses  itself  in  sabotage,  in  hatred  to  his  master 
or  masters,  in  selfishness  that  knows  naught  of  moderation  or  re- 
traint,  except  as  it  arises  from  fear.  Fear  removed,  his  passions 
become  like  a  rush  of  mighty  waters  with  barriers  destroyed.  Any 
man  compelled  to  labor  against  his  will,  be  it  by  an  individual  or  by 
society,  is  a  bondman.  Let  the  American  People  beware  of  bondage 
being  imposed  on  any  class.  Toleration  of  it  by  workers  is  treason 
to  American  ideals.  To  resist  it  is  the  highest  duty  though  the  result 
may  be  prison  or  death.  Seamen  must  learn  not  only  to  think  of 
this;  they  must  learn  to  understand  it,  to  feel  it  and  to  act  accord- 
ingly. At  sea  the  law  of  common  danger,  in  port  the  law  of  freedom. 
It  was  not  from  the  South  that  we  obtained  the  lore  of  the  sea.  To 
voluntarily  give  one's  life  to  save  others,  to  protect  the  vessel,  her 
passengers  and  her  cargo,  with  their  lives  are  not  feelings  grown 
out  of  bondage.  More  often  unconscious  than  not  this  feeling  is  found 
in  all  real  seamen.  "Women  and  children  first"  did  not  grow  from 
the  soil  of  bondage.  That  is  the  fruit  grown  in  free  soil.  Compare 
the  utilitarian  Chinese:  "Men  first,  children  next  and  women  last." 
Men  first  because  they  are  useful,  children  next  because  they  may 
become  useful,  and  women  only  if  you  have  the  opportunity.  Here 
is  the  unfathomable  difference  in  thoughts  and  action. 

The  knightly  rules  of  life,  the  humane  considerations  for  the 
weak  and  helpless  could  come  only  from  a  freedom  such  as  was  in 
existence  among  the  seamen  of  the  Nordic  Race.  The  seamen  of  this 
race  knew  naught  of  bondage  as  applied  to  themselves.  They  knew 
the  slave;  but  he  was  on  shore.  He  was  not  tolerated  at  sea  except 
as  the  personal  servant  of  the  captain  or  leader  and  even  this  was  a 
curiosity.  These  men  captured  other  men  on  shore  at  one  place 
and  sold  them  at  some  other  place.  They  knew  the  slave  as  the 
vanquished,  who  had  chosen  life  in  bondage  rather  than  death  in 
freedom  and  held  him  in  contempt.  The  change  from  these  thoughts 
came  to  the  Nordic  Race  with  Christianity. 

The  social  reconstruction  which  resulted  from  Christian  teachings 
gave  to  the  seaman  of  the  South  greater  freedom  than  they  had  en- 
joyed, but  when  it  was  carried  overland  to  the  North  by  the  mis- 
sionaries it  resulted  in  depriving  the  seaman  of  the  North  of  much 


of  the  freedom  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  and  which  had  been 
the  real  source  of  his  strength. 

In  the  blending  of  the  two  systems  the  slaves  of  the  house  be- 
came the  children  of  the  house;  the  free  men  of  the  vessel  became 
the  children  of  the  vessel.  Generally  speaking,  the  status  of  master 
and  servant  was  then  adopted.  On  shore  this  degenerated  into  serf- 
dom— the  tying  bf  the  men  to  the  soil ;  at  sea — the  tying  of  the  seaman 
to  the  vessel.  For  a  long  period  of  time  the  tie  was  purely  legal. 
To  desert  was  a  crime  the  punishment  for  which  ranged  from  brand- 
ing on  the  forehead  with  red  hot  iron  to  the  imprisonment  of  more 
modern  days.  The  new  status  was  bitterly  resented  and  resisted  by 
the  seamen  and  they  deserted  in  great  numbers,  notwithstanding  the 
law  and  its  savage  penalties.  In  accordance  with  custom,  an  out- 
growth of  the  seamen's  freedom,  the  seamen  were  paid  their  wages 
or  share  of  the  earnings,  whenever  the  vessel's  freight  money  was 
paid.  The  seaman,  having  the  money  with  which  to  find  food  and 
shelter,  deserted  from  his  vessel  for  one  reason  or  another  until  the 
shipowners  of  France  bethought  themselves  of  the  fact  that  a  desti- 
tute man  is  very  helpless  in  a  strange  country  or  port  and  they 
petitioned  the  King  (Louis  the  Fourteenth)  to  forbid  the  payment  of 
any  of  the  seamen's  wages  except  at  the  home  port,  when  his  con- 
tract of  service  was  at  an  end.  The  King  complied  and  other  Nations 
promptly  followed.  Thus  was  economic  power  added  to  the  legal 
power  to  keep  the  seaman  bound  to  his  vessel. 

But  the  seaman,  during  the  so-called  dark  ages,  never  did  fall 
into  the  complete  servitude  that  became  the  lot  of  the  toiler  on  land. 
When  he  came  to  the  home  port  he  was  free.  No  man  was  then  his 
master.  This  freedom  together  with  the  employer's  need  for  highly 
trained  men  with  the  spirit  needed  to  defend  the  vessel  from  pirates 
as  well  as  from  the  dangers  of  the  sea  made  the  economic  and  social 
position  of  the  seaman  superior  to  that  of  his  fellow  toiler  on  shore. 
The  social  standing  of  the  seaman  was  such  that  women  would  marry 
him ;  his  economic  condition  was  such  that  he  could  give  decent  sup- 
port to  a  family.  During  this  period  no  boy  or  young  man  lost  caste 
by  going  to  sea.  Let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  it  was  the 
special  skill  and  the  qualities  of  body  and  mind  needed  in  the  seaman 
that  protected  him  from  the  rapacity  of  his  employer.  Where  this 
was  not  understood  and  the  seaman  thereby  protected,  or  the  states- 
men of  the  time  did  not  realize  the  national  importance  of  a  body 
of  national  seamen,  the  condition  became  such  that  men  refused 


to  seek  or  to  continue  in  the  calling  and  then  sea  power  passed 
from  such  Nation.  Thus  sea  power  was  lost  to  the  Hanseatic  League, 
to  Spain  and  to  Holland.  Wiser  statesmen  fostered  seamanship  by 
giving  at  least  by  comparison  a  better  chance  to  the  seaman  and 
were  thereby  able  to  gain  and  to  keep  control  of  the  sea. 

Man  in  his  daily  life  is  apt  to  compare  himself  and  his  condition 
with  his  neighbor  and  finding  it  little  better  bears  his  burden  more 
easily,  and  so  the  Nordics  gradually  came  back  to  the  sea  and  the 
new  status  imposed  by  the  laws  and  customs.  He  came  back  and 
brought  with  him  his  old  lore,  his  old  ideas  of  what  a  seaman  ought 
to  be.  The  deterioration  was  gradual  and  it  was  not  until  the  men 
on  shore  were  given  the  right  to  freely  quit  work,  to  freely  move  from 
place  to  place  that  the  seaman  began  to  feel  his  life  dishonorable  and 
one  to  be  shunned.  With  this  new  feeling  came  a  contempt  for 
sea-life  and  sea-skill.  While  the  young  man  would  in  earlier  times 
say  with  pride:  "I  am  a  seaman,"  he  gradually  learned  to  say  in 
self-contempt:  "I  am  only  a  seaman."  He  sought  any  and  all  other 
kinds  of  labor.  Where  common  school  education  was  the  highest 
this  feeling  was  the  strongest,  the  men  quit  the  sea  and  the  sea-power 
of  such  nations  gradually  passed  from  it  to  others. 

The  share  which  any  particular  nation  had  in  the  use  of  and  the 
power  on  the  sea  depended  always  on  the  number  of  its  people 
who  obtained  their  living  by  following  sea  occupations.  Fishermen 
on  the  coasts,  later  on  the  banks,  whalers,  first  in  small  boats  along 
the  coasts,  later  in  large  vessels  following  the  whale  or  seeking  him, 
trading  in  their  own  produce,  or  carrying  the  produce  of  others — 
these  are  merchant  seamen.  Valuable  cargoes  tempted  others  into 
piracy,  and  the  merchant  vessel  was  armed  to  resist  the  pirate.  These 
were  the  early  fighting  vessels  or  men-o'-war.  In  all  instances  the 
men  employed  were  seamen.  Seamen  were  always  considered  a 
special  part  of  the  national  defense. 

To  develop  a  large  number  of  trained  seamen,  to  foster  and 
develop  a  tendency  to  the  sea  in  the  population,  has  ever  been  the 
care  of  statesmanship.  Nations  have  fought  over  fishing  grounds, 
not  so  much  because  of  the  fish  to  be  caught,  as  on  account  of  the 
seamen  to  be  trained  in  the  use  of  these  grounds. 

Finding  himself  compelled  to  go  to  sea  because  he  could  sustain 
life  in  no  other  way,  he  neglected  his  work  and  sought  to  escape  from 
it  whenever  possible.  He  refused  to  remain  on  the  vessel  to  discharge 

10 


her  after  having  made  the  voyage.  He  deserted  and  was  sometimes 
recaptured  and  compelled  to  labor.  Then  he  ca-cannied.  He  did  as 
little  work  as  possible.  At  sea  this  was  met  by  coarse  brutality,  by 
starvation,  by  beatings,  by  being  triced  up,  until  the  law  pretended  to 
furnish  a  remedy  by  forbidding  floggings  and  cruel  and  unusual  pun- 
ishments. The  brutality  proceeded',  nevertheless,  because  courts  and 
juries  refused  to  believe  or,  believing,  refused  to  punish. 

The  harbor  was  the  place  where  he  might  get  away  and  find  some 
kind  of  refuge,  if  not  justice,  and  in  hoisting  the  anchor  in  the  outer 
harbor  it  was  quite  customary  to  sing  the  chanty:  "It  is  time  for 
us  to  leave  her."  And  leave  her  he  did.  At  first  he  was  arrested; 
but  that  did  not  pay.  Then  his  wages  was  confiscated  and  given  to 
the  worker  who  was  willing  to  do  the  work  which  the  seaman 
refused  to  do  under  those  conditions.  Finally  that  was  considered 
too  harsh  and  he  usually  was  let  off  with  the  payment  of  five  dollars 
for  docking — placing  the  vessel  in  her  discharging  berth.  The  dock- 
ing and  discharging  of  the  vessels  became  after  a  while  a  regular 
occupation,  now  called  longshoremen.  In  the  language  of  today  this 
work  by  the  longshoremen  would  have  been  called  scabbing.  It  was 
not  considered  as  really  "just  right"  even  in  those  days.  But  it 
gradually  became  necessary  by  the  increase  in  the  size  of  the  vessels 
and  the  longshoreman  quickly  forgot  the  early  days.  In  fact  he  has 
gradually  persuaded  himself,  by  the  aid^of  the  stevedore,  that  he,  the 
longshoreman,  has  the  sole  right  to  this  work,  which,  under  his  free- 
dom to  quit  work,  when  compared  with  the  seaman's  bondage  and 
his  wages,  was  honorable  and  well  paid. 

THE  CRIMPING  SYSTEM 

Out  of  the  seaman's  status  and  the  shipowner's  indifference  to 
skill  came  also  the  crimping  system.  The  seaman  sought  every 
means  to  break  his  bondage.  He  deserted  in  any  port  where  he 
did  not  thereby  maroon  himself.  He  needed  help  to  hide  from  the 
officers  of  the  law  until  the  vessel  was  gone,  he  needed  food  and 
shelter,  he  was  without  money.  Those  who  furnished  these  things 
did  so  at  some  risk,  they  had  to  be  paid  and  well  paid.  To  meet 
this  difficulty  the  advance  note  and  the  blood  money  were  introduced. 
The  seaman  signed  away  before  he  joined  the  vessel,  part  of  the 
wages  he  was  to  earn,  but  since  this  was  not  sufficient,  the  vesesl 
was  compelled  to  pay  "blood  money" — a  bonus  for  each  seaman  fur- 
nished— and  this  became  costly  to  the  shipowners.  There  was  in 

11 


fact  a  combination  between  the  crimp  and  the  seaman.  The  seaman 
wanted  a  few  days  of  freedom ;  the  crimp  wanted  the  money.  There 
was  a  mutual  interest  and  understanding.  To  make  the  system  run 
smoothly  the  master  was  let  in  on  the  money  to  be  obtained.  The 
vessel  paid,  the  seaman  paid;  the  crimp  received  and  divided  with 
the  master.  If  the  seaman  did  not  desert  fast  enough  the  master 
furnished  additional  cause.  He  found  a  way  of  keeping  for  himself 
what  money  the  seaman  left  behind  on  deserting  and  of  dividing  the 
advance  and  the  blood  money  with  the  crimp.  He  needed  it.  His 
wages  were  low  and  the  primage — percentage  on  the  vessel's  earn- 
ings— was  passing  away.  But  the  shipowner  or  manager  had  often 
been  a  master  and  he,  knew  or  some  master  was  honest  enough  to 
tell  the  owner,  and  to  help  to  find  a  way  out.  He  and  the  owner 
made  arrangements  with  the  crimp  to  pay  less  bloodmoney  and  more 
advance.  When  this  was  perfected  the  cost  of  the  system  came  out 
of  the  seaman;  besides,  included  in  this  was  usually  an  arrangement 
through  which  the  wages  was  kept  down  or  lowered,  and  now  the 
seaman  was  working  for  the  vessel  and  by  far  the  largest  parlj 
of  the  wages  went  to  the  crimp,  the  master  and  the  owner.  It  was 
no  uncommon  incident  to  find  the  shipowner  having  contract  with 
the  crimp,  in  certain  ports  where  his  vessels  went  regularly  to  fur- 
nish all  the  men  for  such  vessels  at  the  highest  advance  practical  or 
permitted  with  the  understanding  that  part  of  such'  advance  was  to 
be  repaid  to  the  owner  himself.  Other  contracts  were  made — and 
some  authorities  in  some  ports  entered  into  them — that  the  men 
were  to  be  perfectly  free  to  desert  on  arrival;  but  were  to  be  arrested 
and  forcibly  placed  on  board  on  departure.  Desertion  upon  arrival 
was  to  be  condoned — he  left  some  money  behind  and  he  was  not 
needed  in  port — besides  he  left  a  vacancy,  the  filling  of  which  always 
meant  advance  and  sometimes  blood  money  to  be  divided.  Desertion 
after  signing  and  on  the  point  of  departure  meant  delay,  and  besides 
in  such  instances  somebody  lost  money,  because  advan«es  and  blood 
money  were  not  paid  until  the  vessel  had  been  three  days  at  sea. 
When  actual  seamen  were  not  obtainable,  the  crimp,  with  the  mas- 
ter's consent,  would  pick  up  some  hard-ups  that  might  be  induced 
to  go  to  sea,  or  failing  in  that,  some  men  were  simply  drugged  and 
placed  on  the  vessel.  There  are  authentic  instances  of  dead  men 
having  been  placed  on  the  vessel  in  the  night  when  she  was  to  go  to 
sea  early  in  the  morning.  This  was  called  "shanghaiing."  It  seems 
to  have  been  resorted  to  in  order  to  man  vessels  going  to  Shanghai, 
and  that  it  obtained  its  name  in  this  way.  But  the  system  was 
fairly  profitable,  fairly  safe,  and  it  was  extended  first  to  fever  ports, 

12 


and  then  to  others;  whereupon  the  expression  was  used  about  men 
who  had  been  cleverly  or  forcibly  induced  to  ship  on  vessels  with 
specially  bad  reputations.  The  police  often  assisted  in  this.  It  was 
a  very  handy  and  a  rather  unobjectionable  way  of  getting  rid  of 
troublesome  persons  and  troublesome  witnesses.  The  system  of 
crimping  had  and  has  many  friends.  And  for  various  reasons.  The 
system  is  yet  in  full  operation  in  some  ports  notwithstanding  laws 
passed  to  suppress  it. 

THE  SEAMEN'S  STRUGGLE  TO  ORGANIZE 

Relations  to  Shore-Workers 

To  the  men  on  shore  the  seaman  was  either  a  fool  or  something 
worse.  If  he  succeeded  in  getting  any  money  he  spent  it  so  freely — 
he  said  it  would  not  buy  a  farm,  anyway — that  any  spendthrift  was 
said  to  "act  like  a  drunken  sailor."  That  soldiers  on  leave  and 
woodsmen  just  paid  off  acted  in  the  same  manner  and  from  the 
same  reason  was  no  excuse.  The  men  on  shore  and  on  the  make 
told  him  that  there  was  a  wife  for  him  in  every  port  and  sang: 
"Play  up  the  band,  here  comes  "the  sailor."  The  sailor  understood 
the  purpose  but  was  willing  to  play  the  game.  He  was  looking  for 
at  least  a  temporary  release  from  memory  and  from  his  daily  self, 
and  cynically  answered :  "Get  up,  Jack,  let  John  sit  down."  He  knew 
his  welcome  would  pass  away  with  his  coin. 

The  shipowner  gradually  began  to  look  upon  the  seamanT  as  a 
kind  of  nuisance  to  be  got  rid  of  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  vessel 

came  into  port. 

v. 

Under  the  law  of  limitation  of  liability  and  the  insurance  he 
learned  to  care  nothing  about  safety  at  sea  and  therefore  nothing 
about  skill  in  the  seaman. 

The  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain,  of  Birmingham,  at  one  time  Presi- 
dent of  the  British  Board  of  Trade  and  therefore  possessed  of  the 
information  and  responsibility,  which  gives  weight  to  his  opinion, 
said: 

"Bear  in  mind,  when  a  ship  is  lost  the  ship  owner  may  make  a 
profit,  the  owner  may  get  more  than  the  value  of  his  ship;  the  mer- 
chant may  lose  nothing,  but  may,  and  very  often  does,  get  more  than 
the  value  of  the  cargo  back.  In  the  same  way  the  underwriter  averages 
his  losses,  and,  on  the  whole,  makes  a  profit  on  the  insurance  of  the 
ship  out  of  his  premium." 

13 


He,  the  shipowner,  did  not  need  the  skill.  Not  at  sea.  The  insur- 
ance company  reimbursed  him  from  his  losses — if  there  were  any  at 
sea ;  but  not  so  in  the  loading  or  discharging.  Here  skill  was  needed, 
and  the  vessels  began  to  employ  harbor  crews  to  sling  and  hoist 
valuable  cargo  in  order  to  get  it  safely  into  or  out  of  the  vessel. 
The  stevedore  furnished  this  kind  of  men  sometimes.  At  other  times 
a  company  would  hire  a  steady  gang  of  such  men.  The  pay  of  these 
men  who  are  now  employed  in  nearly  all  great  seaports,  was  and 
usually  is  better  than  the  pay  of  longshoremen. 

Then  came  a  time  in  which  the  seaman  began  to  see  that  the 
workers  on  shore,  who  organized  for  mutual  aid,  were  able  to  improve 
their  conditions.  They  knew  that  upon  their  own  ability  to  work 
together  depended  very  often  their  very  lives.  Together  they  could, 
if  sufficient  in  number,  do  'almost  anything.  The  seamen  had  helped, 
nay,  they  had  been  the  main  force  in  building  or  destroying  empires. 
What  if  they  were  to  unite  for  mutual  aid  and  protection?  Was 
it  not  possible,  that  they  might  reconquer  their  old  place  in  human 
society?  They  had  given  to  England  World  Dominion  and  England 
had  given  to  them  Rathcliff  Highway — if  they  were  not  too  noisy; 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  Holland  had  reached  great  power  through  their 
seamen  and  had  lost  it  when  they  had  no  more  seamen. 

They  had  helped  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  Great  Free  Republic 
in  tHe  West  and  they  had  materially  helped  to  preserve  it.  They  had 
fought  for  the  freedom  of  others  and  had  given  their  lives.  Why 
not  try  to  fight  for  their  own  freedom  when  the  risk  was  nothing? 
Nothing  to  lose  but  their  chains — no  metaphorical  chains  these — 
freedom,  self-respect,  the  respect  of  others,  and  an  equal  place  among 
free  men,  to  win.  And  so  the  seemingly  impossible  happened. 
The  seamen  began  to  organize.  And  the  men  on  shore  laughed. 
The  crimps  laughed,  the  shipowners  laughed,  many  of  the  seamen 
laughed,  Seamen's  Friend  Societies  smiled  indulgently,  the  courts 
smiled  grimly,  the  boarding  masters  threw  them  on  the  streets,  keep- 
ing their  clothing,  and  the  shippwners,  seeing  the  earnestness  of 
the  enthusiasts,  refused  them  employment.  Yet  did  the  seamen  con- 
tinue. The  seamen  fancied  that  they  were  like  other  men  and  they 
quit  their  work — they  struck — and  the  smile  of  the  courts  became 
more  grim  as  they  said,  "two  months,"  "three  months,"  or  "one 
year."  The  seamen  continued  to  organize.  They  joined  the  Unions 
of  transport  workers  on  shore.  The  transport  workers  struck  for 
better  conditions  and  they  boycotted  the  vessel,  the  seaman,  as  he 
was  expected  to,  refused  to  continue  on  the  vessel  and  he  was  sent 

14 


to  jail.  The  strike  was  won  or  lost — very  often  lost — the  shore 
workers  went  to  their  jobs  again  while  the  seaman  remained  in  jail 
and  his  earned  wages  was  paid  to  those  who  did  the  work  while  he 
was  incarcerated.  These  things  happened  over  and  over  again  in 
Europe,  in  Australia,  in  the  United  States,  and  no  one  seemed  to 
think  that  it  was  at  all  remarkable,  npr  was  there  any  thought  of 
dealing  differently  with  the  men,  who  as  yet  were  living  and  working 
under  the  old  rule  of  serfdom.  Seamen  thought  that  'they,  under 
the  law  and  its  penalties,  were  entitled  to  do  the  work  of  the  vessel 
in  harbor,  since  they  were  sent  to  jail  for  refusing.  Nobody  seemed 
to  understand.  The  shipowner  serenely  dismissed  the  seaman  when 
he  did  not  want  him — when  he  could  get  men  on  shore  to  do  the 
work — and  as  serenely  he  sent  him  to  jail  when  he  had  trouble  with 
the  men  on  shore,  and  the  seaman  refused  to  labor.  The  stevedore 
knew  perfectly  well  that  the  seamen  while  on  the  vessel  were  a 
hindrance  to  him  in  getting  such  rates  as  he  thought  he  ought  to 
have,  and  he  told  the  longshoremen  that  they  ought  to  drive  the 
seamen  out  of  the  vessels  in  order  that  the  rates  might  be  higher, 
the  pay  of  the  longshoremen  better  and  their  work  more  steady. 
Of  course  the  longshoremen  understood  and  agreed.  They  insisted 
that  they  must  do  all  the  loading  and  discharging.  The  rigging- 
boss  and  his  employees  acted  in  the  same  way  and  from  the  same 
motive. 

When  steam  began  to  be  used  the  repair-shop  owner  and  his 
men  acted  in  the  same  spirit  and  from  the  same  reason.  And  so  on 
with  every  kind  of  work  done.  The  painter  wants  all  the  painting, 
the  sailmaker  all  the  canvas  work,  the  machinists  all  the  work  in  the 
engine  room,  the  steam-fitter  all  the  pipe  fitting,  the  boilermaker  all 
the  repairing  on  boilers.  The  boilerscalers  want  all  the  scaling,  the 
carpenter  refuses  the  seaman  the  right  to  caulk  the  hatches,  and  so 
on.  In  fact  while  in  port  they  will  only  permit  the  seaman  to  sit 
on  the  rail  smoking  his  pipe  while  they  are  doing  the  seaman's  work, 
but  the  shipowner  says  to  the  seaman:  "Get  out  of  the  vessel,  I 
don't  need  you."  And  the  seaman  goes  ashore  to  eat  up  what  he 
has  earned.  The  owner  loses  the  seaman's  work,  the  seaman  fails 
to  develop  that  skill  so  essential  in  a  real  seaman  and  necessary  in 
the  world  competition  that  is  surely  coming  as  things  get  back  to 
a  normal  basis. 

Placed  in  a  diagram  the  situation  would  look  something  like 
this :  (See  diagram  on  next  page.) 


The  circle  in  the  middle  might  represent  the  vessel  in  which 
the  sailors  and  the  firemen  are  working — the  deck  department  and 
the  engine  department— should  be  working  taking  care  of  the  vessel 
and  her  engines,  her  gear,  keeping  the  whole  in  a  fit  condition  at 
all  time;  developing  again  the  lost  skill,  but  especially  developing 
the  skill  in  the  young  men.  Saving  repairs  and  speeding  up  the 
vessels  turn-around  in  port. 

Will  the  American  shipowner  see  this?  Will  the  seaman  be 
able  to  see?  There  are  still  many  difficulties  in  the  way.  In  the 
large  seaports  of  Europe  and  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  the  seamen  long 
ago  gladly  gave  up  their  work  in  the  port.  They  hated  the  ship 
and  wanted  to  escape  from  her  when  she  entered  harbor.  The 
longshoremen  are  in  a  large  measure  doing  their  work.  Some 
thirty  years  since  the  longshoremen  on  the  Atlantic  were  for  a  time 
organized.  The)  stevedores  wanted  the  work,  the  longshoremen 
wanted  it.  There  -was  no  one  to  say  them  nay.  The  shipowners 

16  # 


wanted  to  be  rid  of  the  seamen.  There  was  none  to  resist.  It  has 
become  a  hardened  custom.  Business  is  arranged  accordingly  and 
it  acted  as  a  shock  when  the  Pacific  Coast  steam  schooner  came  and 
it  was  found  that  this  vessel,  paying  more  wages  and  working  shorter 
hours,  could  carry  lumber  some  25  per  cent  cheaper  than  the  vessels 
which  were  going  along  under  a  system  developed  during  past  years 
and  reeking  with  waste  and  graft.  On  the  Pacific,  while  longshore- 
men were  discharging  and  loading  deepwater  vessels,  the  loading  and 
discharging  of  coastwise  vessels  were,  outside  •  of  San  Francisco, 
done  by  the  seamen.  In  San  Francisco  the  longshoremen  discharged 
nearly  all  the  coastwise  vessels,  especially  those  loaded  with 
lumber.  In  all  vessels  having  more  than  250,000  feet  of  pine 
lumber  on  board,  the  seamen  had  to  go  on  shore.  The  longshoremen 
earned  as  much  discharging  the  vessel  as  the  seamen  earned  in  sailing 
the  vessel  to  Puget  Sound — a  thousand  miles  away — loading  her 
and  sailing  back  to  San  Francisco.  Truly  the  seamen's  legal  status 
had  done  its  work  well. 

SEEKING  AMICABLE  RELATIONS  WITH 
SHORE  WORKERS 

Shortly  after  the  Pacific  Coast  seamen  bega'n  to  organize,  the 
meeting  received  a  deputation  from  the  Longshore  Lumbermen's 
Union.  The  seamen  were  told  in  fine  phrases  that  they  had  warm 
friends  in  the  longshoremen,  who  worked  at  discharging  lumber. 
This  friendship  could  be  made  very  useful  to  both  if  the  seamen 
would  refuse  to  discharge  the  smaller  vessels  on  which  they  were 
permitted  to  work.  Hints  were  not  lacking  that  the  longshoremen 
would  help  the  seamen  by  refusing  to  discharge  vessels  which  were 
sailed  with » non-union  men.  Being  hungry  for  friendship  and  co- 
operation, the  seamen  consented,  and  left  the  vessels.  The  long- 
shoremen went  on  board  and  discharged  the  vessels.  The  ship- 
owners refused  to  pay  the  seamen  for  work  done  on  the  voyage, 
claiming  under  the  law  that  the  contract  was  not  finished  until  the 
cargo  was  discharged,  and  no  money  was  due  them.  They  paid  the 
seamen's  wages,  earned  on  the  trip,  to  the  longshoremen — and,  of 
course,  while  it  was  hard  on  the  seamen,  the  longshoremen  did  not 
object  very  seriously.  The  seamen  lost,  individually  up  to  fifty 
dollars,  collectively  nearly  forty  thousand  dollars.  Seamen  would 
not  believe  that  they  could  be  dismissed  at  will  or  kept  at  work  at 
will.  They  went  to  court  suing  for  their  wages;  but  the  court  smiled 
grimly,  and  said  :  "The  libel  is  dismissed." 

17 


When  the  seamen  of  the  Pacific  had  been  organized  for  about 
eighteen  months  the  boilermakers  had  some  trouble  on  board  one 
vessel.  They  quit  and  placed  a  boycott  on  the  vessel.  The  seamen 
quit  in  that  vessel  and  were  promptly  locked  out  in  all  the  vessels. 
In  this  case  they  were  paid  their  wages  except  in  the  vessels  which 
they  quit.  It  all  resulted  in  several  men,  however,  losing  their  money 
and  going  to  jail  for  two  or  three  months.  'It  resulted  further  in 
the  formation  of  a  Shipowners  Association  which  in  combination 
with  the  boardingmasters  issued  passports  without  which  no  man 
could  ship  or  obtain  employment  in  any  Association  vessel.  This 
lasted  for  some  considerable  time.  Rather  hard  on  the  seamen;  but 
while  it  was  their  misfortune,  the  men  on  shore,  in  whose  interest 
the  seamen  had  acted,  managed  to  bear  it  and  to  forget  it.  Some 
of  the  seamen  were  beginning  to  learn ;  but  the  turn  over  of  sea-labor 
was  sufficient  to  keep  such  in  the  minority. 

In  the  following  year  the  harbor  workers  organized  "The  Wharf 
and  Wave  Union."  It  was  kind  of  Federation.  The  seamen  joined 
and  having  by  this  time  learned  to  understand  that  it  was  not  a  good 
thing  to  be  compelled  to  go  into  the  boarding  house  each  time 
they  came  into  port,  they  sought  to  get  the  longshore  lumbermen 
to  permit  them  to  discharge  pine-wood  cargoes  up  to  400,000  feet. 
The  answer  was  a  sneering  and  emphatic  "No."  And  to  that  was 
added  the  information  that  the  seamen  were  not  recognized  by  any- 
body. The  representatives  of  the  seamen  left  after  informing  the 
meeting  that  this  was  true — too  true.  They,  however,  volunteered 
the  belief  that  the  condition  might  change,  that  in  the  meantime 
the  seamen  would  seek  to  remember  that  nobody  recognized  them. 
This  they  would  try  not  to  forget;  but  to  forget  the  longshoremen 
and  let  the  shipowners  deal  with  the  longeshoremen  in  their  own 
good  time.  Thus  for  the  seamen  ended  the  first  Federation  which 
they  had  joined. 

The  same  year  there  was  a  longshoremen's  strike  in  San  Pedro 
into  which  the  seamen  were  drawn  and  again  they  left  the  vessels 
and  some  sixty  thousand  dollars  in  wages.  The  seamen  would  not 
believe  that  the  San  Pedro  men  really  held  the  same  opinions  as  the 
San  Francisco  longshoremen.  The  strike  was  lost  for  both.  Both 
suffered  alike  and  the  seamen  forgot. 

/ 

About  one  year  later  the  shipowners  got  into  trouble  with  the 
longshoremen  and  wiped  them  out  with  exception  of  those  who 
were  working1  in  deepwater  vessels.  When  this  struggle  was  on  the 

18 


longshoremen  recognized  the  seamen  to  the  extent  of  asking  them 
to  come  on  sympathetic  strike.  The*  seamen  had  been  without  recog- 
nition so  long  that  they  had  got  accustomed  to  it.  They  were  em- 
ployed by  the  shipowners  without  recognition,  they  were  hated  and 
robbed  by  the  boardingmaster  and  just  tolerated  by  the  Labor  Coun- 
cil, where  they  were  affiliated;  yet  the  seamen  had  managed  to 
grow  in  numbers  and  in  wisdom  and  therefore  said:  "No."  The 
seamen  were  gradually  developing  the  philosophy  under  which  they 
had  lived  and  were  to  continue  living,  namely:  "Never  beg  bread 
from  friend,  nor  mercy  from  enemy,  live  by  your  own  strength  or 
die." 

The  Seamen's  Unions  of  the  Pacific  Coast  kept  growing  in 
membership  and  consciousness  of  their  mission.  The  separate 
Unions  on  the  Lakes,  Atlantic  and  Pacific  were  linked  together  into 
the  International  Seamen's  Union  of  America  and  were  then  affiliated 
to  the  American  Federation  of  labor.  The  seamen  expected  and 
received  very  valuable  legislative  assistance ;  industrially  they  neither 
expected  aid  nor  did  they  receive  any.  In  the  meantime  the  industrial 
passports  had  been  abolished,  wages  and  conditions  had  been  some- 
what improved. 

The  shipowners  did  not  like  this  and  having  again  obtained 
from  Congress  the  right  to  punish  by  imprisonment  desertion  in  the 
coastwise  trade  they  began  an  attack  upon  the  seamen.  The  struggle 
lasted  for  some  eighteen  months  and  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the 
seamen,  who  fought  alone  without  aid  from  anybody.  They  never 
asked  anybody  to  quit  work  in  their  interest  nor  did  they  ask  for 
financial  aid.  They  took  their  whipping  without  a  whimper;  but 
in  their  defeat  they  adopted  the  motto:  "Tomorrow  is  also  a  day." 

The  shipowners  again  introduced  their  passport  system.  The 
seamen  again  fought  it  individually  and  it  again  had  to  be  abolished, 
but  a  great  majority  of  the  seamen  who  had  sailed  on  the  Pacific 
for  years  left  the  sea  or  went  to  foreign  countries  to  sail.  They 
carried  their  experience  to  those  other  countries.  The  Pacific  ob- 
tained a  new  set  of  men.  Men  who  brought  with  them  their  ideas 
gathered  in  Europe;  but  who  knew  nothing  about  the  past  struggles 
on  the  Pacific. 

There  were  some  Seamen's  Unions  In  Europe,  especially  in 
England  where  the  longshoremen  did  the  work  in  harbor.  Seamen 
coming  from  Europe  knew  of  course  about  the  Longshoremen's 


Unions — there  unions  were  in  nearly  all  great  seaports  and  seamen 
arriving  on  the  Pacific  joined  the*  Seamen's  Union,  but  asked  why  are 
there  no  Longshoremen's  Unions?  And  so  there  again  grew  up 
among  longshoremen  a  strong  desire  to  organize.  The  Seamen's 
Union  had  again  gathered  some  strength  and  the  longshoremen  came 
to  the  seamen  for  assistance.  This  was  promptly  granted.  The 
seamen's  hall  was  given  free  of  rent.  Moral  and  industrial  assistance 
was  gladly  given  and  the  unions  of  longshoremen  grew  like  a  green 
bay  tree.  The  seamen  often  ran  considerable  risk  by  insisting  upon 
the  employment  of  union  men  in  the  vessels  where  they  were 
handling  lumber.  It  was  much  more  pleasant  to  work  with  union 
men  and  much  safer.  The  longshoremen  were  now  willing  to  recog-  - 
nize  the  seamen  as  their  equals.  They  needed  help,  they  received  it, 
and  the  feeling  was  good.  Agreements  were  entered  into  in  San 
Francisco  in  1900.  The  agreement  acknowledged  the  seaman's  first 
right  to  do  all  work  within  the  rail  of  the  vessel,  the  longshoremen's 
right  to  all  work  on  the  dock  and  the  first  right  to  help  on  the  vessel 
when  help  was  needed.  There  was  a  further  clause  to  the  effect 
that  neither  should  receive  cargo  from  or  deliver  cargo  to  non-union 
men.  The  seamen  found  what  that  meant  when  the  longshoremen 
advised  American  ship  owners  to  send  their  Japanese  crews  employed 
on  the  coastwise  trade  on  shore  while  the  loading  was  going  on. 
The  agreement  was  thus  kept  in  the  letter  and  killed  in  the  spirit. 
Seamen  were  always  simple.  Agreements  were  entered  into  in  nearly 
all  ports  along  the  coast  as  the  longshoremen  organized.  They 
were  assisted  and  temporarily  grateful  enough  to  agree. 

On  the  lakes  there  had  been  Seamen's  Unions  for  a  long  time. 
There  had  been  many  ups  and  downs.  The  Lake  Carriers'  Associa- 
tion fought  the  union  with  great  ability  and  persistency.  They 
imported  men  from  the  East  and  from  Europe.  The  new  men  joined 
the  union  and  it  was  not  until  the  sailing  vessels  began  in  earnest 
to  reduce  their  rigging  and  to  depend  on  towing  that  the  Seamen's 
Unions  met  with  its  greatest  difficulties.  Steam  took  the  place  of 
sail.  The  vessels  could  manage,  with  less  skill  and  skill  departed 
to  such  an  extent  that  rope  splicing  was  done  by  men  on  shore. 
Wages  was  very  low  even  for  the  skilled  men  and  the  so-called  deck- 
hands were  largely  men  whom  the  police  drove  from  place  to  place. 
They  worked  as  deckhands  in  ports  and  as  coal-passers  out  on  the 
Lakes.  The  longshoremen  were  organized.  They  did  all  the  dis- 
charging and  nearly  all  the -loading.  They  worked  under  agreements 
with  the  dock  and  vessel  owners  and  were  paid,  while  on  the 

20 


vessels  doing  the  seaman's  work,  as  much  for  one  day  as  the  deck- 
hands got  for  one  week. 

Imprisonment  for  refusing  to  fulfill  a  contract  to  labor  on  a 
vessel  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  was  abolished  in 
1899.  The  seamen  having  been  thus  unshackled  took  additional 
courage.  The  men  on  the  Great  Lakes  organized  and  within  two 
years  had  attained  such  strength  that  the  shipowners  met  them  in 
conference.  The  wages  and  conditions  were  improved.  The  seamen 
had  nationally  as  well  as  locally  endeavored  to  create  and  maintain 
the  friendliest  relations  with  the  longshoremen  and  other  harbor 
workers.  For  a  short  period  it  promised  success.  Then  without  any 
warning  the  longshoremen's  convention  changed  the  name  of  the 
organization  from  "International  Longshoremen's  Association,"  to 
"International  Longshoremen,  Marine  and  Transport  Workers'  Asso- 
ciation." This  change  meant,  if  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
would  consent,  the  abolition  of  the  International  Seamens  Union  of 
America  as  an  independent  organization  and  that  so  much  of  it  as 
might  continue  to  live  was  to  become  either  a  branch  of  the  Inter- 
national Longshoremen,  Marine  and  Transport  Workers'  Association 
or  that  the  members  of  the  seamen's  organization  would  be  fused 
with  and  into  the  local  longshoremen's  unions. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  its  New  Orleans  con- 
vention refused  to  sanction  the  change  but  appointed  a  committee 
on  conciliation.  Of  course,  there  could  be  no  conciliation  on  such 
a  question  and  a  struggle  went  on  for  several  years  before  the  long- 
shoremen were  compelled  to  give  up  their  ambition  to  represent 
the  seamen,  to  set  their  wages  and  to  determine  the  condition  under 
which  the  seamen  wrere  to  work  and  live.  The  struggle  finally  came 
into  the  industrial  arena  on  the  Pacific  and  it  was  made  plain  to 
thinking  men  that  the  seamen  must  travel  a  long  road  before  they 
could  or  would  be  recognized  as  the  equals  of  other  workers.  The 
efforts  to  obtain  and  maintain  friendly  relations  with  the  harbor 
workers  had,  at  least  for  the  time  being,  failed. 

THE  FAILURE  AND  ITS  CAUSE 
\ 

The  effort  to  win  and  keep  the  good  will  and  co-operation  of 
the  men  on  shore  had  failed  in  exact  proportion  of  the  distance  that 
the  seamen  worked  near  the  shore  workers.  If  the  men  on  shore 
had  no  real  interest  in  the  seaman  and  his  work  the  sympathy  flowed 

21 


naturally  toward  the  seamen ;  but  if  the  work  done  by  the  men  ashore 
was  near  to  the  seamen  the  sympathy  decreased  with  the  reduced/ 
distance.  If  the  work  was  competitive — if  the  work  was  really  sea- 
men's work — the  feeling  degenerated  into  downright  hostility.  The 
agreement  signed  by  the  San  Francisco  longshoremen  was  violated 
through  a  secret  understanding  with  the  teamsters  who  had  lately 
organized  and  who,  failing  to  understand  the  seriousness  of  the 
matter  consented  to  refuse  to  deliver  cargo  destined  for  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands  to  anybody  but  longshoremen,  thus  boycotting  the 
vessels  until  the  seamen  were  dismissed.  Of  course  the  dismissal 
was  prompt.  When  the  teamsters  learned  the  facts,  they  altered 
their  position,  but  too  late.  _The  longshoremen  were  in  and  the 
seamen  out.  Fortunately  there  were  not  many  of  those  vessels  and 
the  seamen  consented  to  overlook  the  treachery.  A  new  agreement 
was  patched  up.  Shortly  after  this  occurrence — in  less  than  one  year — 
the  so-called  teamsters'  strike  broke  out.  The  employers  in  San 
Francisco  had  combined  to  crush  all  the  Labor  Unions  in  the  state 
and  they  arranged  so  that  the  struggle  began  with  the  teamsters. 
All  the  water  front  unions  finally  had  to  come  out.  There  was  no 
choice.  The  struggle  lasted  for  two  months  and  a  half  and  ended 
in  a  "draw."  Those  best  acquainted  with  the  struggle  said  that  the 
seamen  contributed  more  to  the  defense  of  human  freedom  in  that 
struggle  than  any  other  union.  The  seamen  understood  what  was  at 
stake  and  offered  their  all. 

The  result  was  the  organization  of  the  City  Front  Federation 
through  which  every  worker  on  the  waterfront  except  the  seamen 
was  highly  benefitted.  There  was  an  effort  to  make  the  seamen 
carry  the  whole  burden  by  providing  that  no  one  should  take 
cargo  from  or  deliver  cargo  to  any  non-union  man.  Since  the  seamen 
received  the  cargo  at  the  rail  and  delivered  it  at  the  rail  it  would 
of  course  fall  on  the  seamen  to  fight  for  all  the  men  on  shore.  Under 
this  arrangement  the  seamen  could  have  no  union  as  long  as  there 
was  anybody  left  on  shore  who  was  unorganized  or  on  strike.  The 
seamen  finally  saw  through  the  enthusiasm  of  their  friends  and 
refused  to  comply.  Of  course  the  popularity  of  the  seamen  began 
at  once  to  pass  away.  When  they  were  not  willing  to  be  called  on 
strike  by  anybody  and  everybody,  their  usefulness  was  at  an  end. 
The  seamen  began  to  insist  strongly  that  they  must  be  consulted 
before  they  were  expected  to  quit  work,  that  they  would  not  join, 
any  strike  except  after  a  secret  ballot  taken  by  the  seamen  themselves 
after  proper  discussion  within  their  own  organization.  The  long- 
shoremen along  the  coast  disregarded  their  agreements  with  the 

22 


seamen  at  their  own  whim  or  supposed  interest,  and  the  seamen's 
organization  was  attacked  and  villified  in  every  way. 

In  1905  the  longshoremen  made  up  their  minds  that  they  were 
going  to  compel  the  seamen  to  become  an  appendix  to  the  longshore- 
men and  to  obey  such  resolutions  as  the  longshoremen  might  think 
proper  to  adopt.  The  longshoremen  refused  to  work  on  vessels 
where  the  seamen  were  doing  any  loading  and  discharging.  The 
seamen  defended  themselves  and  their  position  so  ably  and  so  well 
that  the  longshoremen  had  to  quit  and  finally  the  International  Long- 
shoremen's Association  consented  to  drop  the  ambitious  title  and 
with  it  their  great  .pretenses.  But  the  seamen's  popularity  was 
gone. 

The  time  came  for  the  seamen  to  ask  for  a  slight  increase  in 
their  wages  on  the  steam  schooners,  amounting  to  five  dollars  per 
month.  The  shipowners  were  prepared  to  make  a  most  serious 
fight.  The  real  reason  for  this  fight  was  very  interesting  and  could 
serve  to  illuminate  the  reasons  for  some  strikes;  but  this  is  not  the 
place  to  discuss  it.  The  fact  was  that  the  shipowners  had  been 
organized  under  the  title  of  "Shipping  and  Transportation  Associa- 
tion" and  when  the  seamen  insisted  upon  a  five  dollar  increase  in 
their  monthly  wages  from  forty-five  to  fifty  dollars  per  month,  all 
the  harbor  workers  were  promptly  locked  out.  The  City  Front  Fed- 
eration sent  a  committee  to  the  employers  asking  why  they  were 
locked  out  and  what  was  wanted  of  them.  They  asked:  What  do 
you  want  us  to  do  before  we  can  go  to  work  again?  The  Executive 
Committee  of  the  employers,  according  to  report,  said:  We  locked 
you  out  because  the  seamen  refused  to  continue  to  work  in  the 
steam  schooners  for  the  old  wages  and  we  want  you -to  order  them 
back  to  work.  After  some  discussion  the  Federation  began  to  draw 
up  a  letter  to  the  sailors,  firemen,  cooks  and  stewards,  ordering  them 
to  return  to  work  at  the  old  rate.  The  Seamen's  Unions  saved  the 
Federation  from  such  disgrace  by  persuading  this  meeting  to  wait 
a  couple  of  days  and  another  way  would  be  found  to  get  them  all 
back  to  work.  The  way  adopted  by  the  Seamen's  Unions  was  to 
withdraw  from  the  City  Front  Federation,  to  ask  the  shipowners  to 
reinstate  the  other  workers  and  turn  their  wrath  upon  the  seamen. 
It  being  clear  that  the  other  unions  could  not  compel  the  seamen 
to  return  to  work  there  was  no  longer  any  reason  for  keeping  them 
locked  out.  They  were  reinstated.  As  the  seamen  had  fought  for 
the  whole  labor  movement  on  the  Coast  at  an  earlier  time,  so  now 

23 


they  were  placed  in  the  position  of  again  fighting  for  the  whole 
movement,  but  to  fight  alone.  And  they  fought  alone;  they  asked 
nobody  to  quit  work  for  them  nor  did  they  ask  for  any  financial  aid. 
After  five  months  of  struggle  the  real  reason  for  the  disturbance 
was  removed — the  Harriman  lines  took  the  Seattle  Terminal — and 
peace  was  re-established.  The  seamen,  however,  obtained  the  five 
dollars  increase  not  only  in  the  steam  schooners,  but  in  all  the 
vessels,  together  with  an  increase  in  the  overtime  pay  and  also  an 
improvement  in  the  working  rules. 

But  the  so-called  victory  was  condemned  by  their  fellow  workers, 
who  could  not  forgive  the  seamen  that  they  had  insisted  upon  deter- 
mining for  themselves  when  to  strike.  Again  the  seamen  stood 
industrially  alone.  They  had  gone  through  another  experience  in 
federating  with  shore  or  harbor  workers — in  trying  to  work  with 
them  and  the  result  was  the  same.  In  1916  the  longshoremen  again 
tried  to  compel  the  seamen  to  surrender  their  work  on  the  vessel  in 
harbor.  They  first  tried  to  induce  the  shipowners  to  come  to  an 
agreement  with  them  to  this  effect.  But  finding  that  the  shipowners 
refused  because  they  had  come  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  their 
own  interest  and  the  interest  of  the  shipping  generally,  a  strike  was 
entered  upon  to  compel  the  shipowners  to  dismiss  the  seamen  and 
to  employ  longshoremen  exclusively.  The  longshoremen  actually 
carried  on  a  campaign  to  convince  the  seamen  that  they  ought  to  go 
on  strike  to  help  the  longshoremen  to  drive  them — the  seamen — 
from  the  vessels.  The  pleading  was  persistent.  The  soapbox  orator 
was  busy  emitting  abuse  and  generalities  which  in  the  most  instances 
he  did  not  understand.  The  seamen  were  again  induced  to  become 
members  of  the  revived  City  Front  Federation.  By  some  means, 
no  matter  which,  the  seamen  must  be  compelled  to  take  orders  from 
men  on  shore.  A  systematic  campaign  for  "Solidarity,"  for  the  "One 
Big  Union,"  or  anything  that  might  sound  catching  was  carried  on 
until  the  effort  was  again  made  to  drive  the  seamen  into  sympathetic 
strikes  and  to  violate  their  agreements  with  the  shipowners.  The 
seamen  had  gathered  a  little  too  much  sense  to  listen  to  the  old 
tune,  "Play  up  the  band,  here  comes  a  sailor,"  with  any  patience  or 
willingness  to  comply,  and  again  they  left  the  Federation  since  it 
was  evident  that  they  could  not  be  accepted  and  treated  as  equals. 
And  the  end  is  not  yet.  Again  the  appeal  is  sounding.  And  now 
the  seamen  are  told  that  they  ought  to  own  the  vessels.  They  must 
fight  for  a  new  order  of  society  in  which  they  shall  own  the  vessels 
and  have  no  employers  to  serve.  Somebody  has  go\d  bricks  for  sale 

24 


and  the  seaman  is  to  be  one  of  the  fools  to  buy  them.  These  men 
have  learned  all  they  know  of  the  seaman  from  the  daily  papers,  the 
old  storybooks  and  ditties.  They  know  or  think  they  know  the  sea- 
man as  the  person  who  being  a  bondman  has  no  sense  of  personal 
worth,  no  self-respect  and  no  will.  And  one  can  hardly  blame  them. 
The  seaman  has  been  a  freeman  only  about  four  years.  They  assume, 
and  they  may  be  somewhat  right,  that  the  freedom  is  so  new,  that 
it  cannot  have  made  much  change  in  the  seaman's  view  of  life. 
Character  is  of  slow  growth  in  individuals  and  slower  still  in  groups 
or  classes  of  men.  The  seaman  ought  not  to  be  blamed  overmuch 
if  he  fell  for  the  temptations  and  tries  to.  buy  the  gold  bricks.  It  is 
after  all  not  so  very  difficult  to  understand  the  mental  attitude  that 
the  men  on  shore  have  with  reference  to  the  seaman. 

The  seaman  is  looked  upon  as  being  by  his  own  choice  a  serf 
or  slave.  This  was  his  status — legal  place  in  society — for  centuries 
and  for  a 'century  longer  than  other  workers.  If  he  did  not  choose 
it  why  did  he  become  a  seaman?  If  he  did  not  know  the  condition 
before  becoming  a  seaman  he  soon  learned  it,  and  yet  he  remained. 
He  has  the  characteristics  of  the  slave,  therefore  let  us  treat  him  so. 
If  you  treat  him  like  a  man  he  will  not  understand  you  and  he  will 
take  advantage.  These  are  not  the  thoughts  of  the  harbor  workers 
alone.  Many,  nay  perhaps,  most  men  on  shore  have  these  ideas 
and  the  employers — the  shipowners — to  a  surprisingly  large  extent, 
are  among  them.  The  worst  of  it  all  is  that  very  many  shipowners  ' 
do  not  want  the  seaman  to  be  anything  else.  Fortunately,  some  of 
them  have  learned.  Let  the  seamen  be  duly  thankful  for  that;  but 
it  is  greatly  to  be  feared  that  the  majority  of  shipowners  would  yet 
prefer  to  employ  men  in  the  slave  status  and  with  the  slave  mind. 
It  would  be  more  in  accordance  with  the  economic  concept  in  their 
own  minds.  Growing  out  of  his  system  of  bookkeeping  and  human 
disposition  to  follow  the  line  of  least  resistance  he — the  shipowner — 
came  to  believe  what  the  economists  long  ago  in  their  scientific  jargon 
called  "The  Wage-Fund."  He  had  found  that  there  was  a  certain— 
nearly  certain — wage-cost  connected  with  the  loading,  transporting 
and  discharging  of  one  ton  of  freight  or  one  thousand  feet  of  lumber. 
He  had  arranged  his  business  on  this  basis  and  gave  it  no  further 
thought  except  to  try  to  diminish  the  wage-fund.  The  longshoremen 
organized  and  went  to  the  stevedore  to  ask  for  more  pay  to  meet  the 
increasing  cost  cf  living.  The  stevedore  came  to  the  shipowner  to  ask 
for  higher  rates.  He  insisted  that  he  must  have  it  because  he  must 
pay  more  wages.  Thinking  the  matter  over  they  came  to  the  conclu- 

25' 


sion  that  a  slight  reduction  might  be  made  in  the  seamen's  wages  to 
cover  the  increase  that  had  to  be  granted  to  keep  the  peace.  The 
matter  was  very  simple — just  take  away  from  the  seaman  what  had 
to  be  given  to  the  longshoreman  and  their  need  be  no  increase  in  cost. 
The  wage-fund  is  not  enlarged.  The  same  situation  appeared  with 
reference  to  the  machinist,  the  repairshop  and  the  fireman.  The 
seamen  were  shackled.  They  could  not  kick  with  any  effect  and  if 
the  white  ones  quit  there  were  colored  ones  in  plenty  in  China,  Japan, 
India  and  other  "backward  countries."  The  shipowner  was  not  think- 
ing about  the  time  to  come  when  those  backward  countries,  having 
a  sea-trained  people,  might  and  would  build  and  sail  vessels  in  com- 
petition with  them.  Why  should  they  think  of  far-away  troubles  that 
were  not  to  come  in  their  time?  The  harbor  worker  at  first  dimly 
sensed  the  idea  behind  their  increase — which  had  come  without  seri- 
ous trouble;  then  they  began  to  see  and  to  think  that  they  under- 
stood. "There  is  just  so  much  to  divide,  if  the  seaman  gets  more 
I  will  get  less/'  and  so  they  could  without  disagreeable  emotion  watch 
their  own  wages  increase  and  the  seamen  get  less. 
i 

. 

But  then  the  seaman  became  free.  He  could  organize  and  he 
did  and  he  demanded  more  wages  and  behold,  he  gets  it.  In  one 
respect  the  result  of  organization  among  seamen  was  startling.  On 
the  Lakes  the  longshoreman  was  asked  to  consent  to  a  decrease  or 
to  put  up  a  real  fight.  As  a  natural  sequence,  the  International 
Longshoremen's  Union  sought  the  power  to  check  the  seamen  and 
the  surest  way  was  to  take  charge  of  them,  to  represent  them,  in 
order  that  the  longshoremen  might  be  saved  from  the  choice  of  ac- 
cepting decreases  or  fighting  to  avoid  it.  It  was  this  idea  that  was 
at  the  foundations -of  the  resolutions,  which  were  from  time  to  time 
passed  protesting  against  the  passage  of  the  Seamen's  Bill.  It  was 
this  same  idea  that  caused  the  longshoremen  in  Portland,  Oregon, 
to  enter  their  emphatic  protect  against  the  repeal  of  the  law  under 
which  those  who  helped  a  seaman  to  desert  were  subject  to  three 
months'  imprisonment  under  the  state  law.  They  frankly  told  the 
seamen's  representatives  that  if  they  would  accept  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  longshoremen  over  them  and  strike  when  the  longshoremen 
so  willed,  then  and  not  until  then,  would  they  permit  the  slave  law 
to  be  repealed.  It  was  this  feeling  which  caused  the  longshoremen 
to  protest  against  a  resolution  being  passed  by  the  Oregon  State 
Federation  of  Labor.  The  Federation  did  not  understand  the  real 
meaning  of  it  all  and  followed  the  longshoremen's  advice.  It  was 
this  feeling,  further  developed  and  now  out  of  the  subconscious  mind 

26 


that  induced  the  stevedore,  the  repair-shop  owner,  the  boss  painter, 
the  machine  repairshop  owner,  and  others  to  combine  to  drive  the 
seamen  from  the  vessel  and  from  his  work.  The  seaman  might 
suffer;  but  what  about  it?  He  was  nothing  but  a  kindless,  helpless 
loon.  He  was  in  the  minority.  He  was  in  the  way. 

The  shipowner  had  other  things  to  think  about.  Sometimes  he 
had  a  hard  struggle  to  make  ends  meet,  so  that  he  might  pay  some 
dividends.  If  skilled  seamen  grew  more  and  more  scarce  it  only 
meant  a  higher  premium  on  the  insurance  and  that  was  shifted  to 
consumer,  who  enjoined  or  used  the  things  that  the  seaman  carried 
from  place  to  place.  Verily,  the  seaman's  road  to  industrial  equality 
with  men  on  shore  is  rocky  and  the  end  seems  far  away. 

THE  FUTURE,   ITS   DUTIES   AND   POSSIBILITIES 

While  the  road  is  thorny  on  the  sides  and  covered  with  sharp 
stones,  some  part  of  it  is  traveled.  There  are  now  shipowners  who 
understand  and  can  see  their  interest  in  the  travel.  Some  of  them 
are  beginning  to  see  clearly  that  skill  is  a  pre-requisite  in  the  world 
competition,  that  it  is  better  to  release  the  latent  forces  in  the  sea- 
men and  put  them  to  use,  that  free  and  willing  men  are  more  profitable 
than  slaves,  that  honest  labor  is  better  than  sabotage.  The  scientist 
kindly  gave  a  new  name  to  "ca-canny,"  he  wrote  a  book  about  it 
and  now  it  is  beginning  to  be  understood,  what  is  the  cause  and  the 
possible  cure. 

In  this  rapid  review  I  have  tried  to  analyze  facts  and  causes. 
In  trying  to  hint  at  the  duties  and  possibilities  I  shall  try  to  speak 
directly  to  the  seamen  as  one  of  the  craft  who  thinks  and  feels  as 
seamen  do,  and  to  the  shipowner  as  one  who  thinks  of,  fears,  yet 
believes  in  the  future. 

We  cannot  travel  the  thorny  and  stony  road  unless  we  have  the 
will  that  can  only  come  from  knowledge  and  understanding.  We 
must  know  our  duties  to  ourselves,  to  the  calling,  to  the  vessel.  We 
must  be  willing  to  insist  upon  our  right  as  men ;  we  must  be  willing 
to  do  our  duty  as  free  men — freely  and  without  force  from  without. 
We  must  try  to  be  more  and  more  skilled  in  our  work,  we  must 
learn  more  and  more  to  respect  the  work  and  the  men  in  it,  we  must 
learn  to  bear  each  other's  burden  joyously,  we  must  become  better 
Union  Men,  which  means  better  men.  To  these  ends  we  must 

27 


\ 

employ  some  time  on  the  vessel  to  become  experts  in  our  work,  to 
read  and  know  of  the  past  and  to  draw  therefrom  some  of  the  strength 
needed  for  the  future.  We  must  use  more  of  our  time  on  shore  to 
attend  meetings  of  the  Union  in  order  that  we  may  learn  to  know 
and  to  trust  each  other  and  have  less  trust  in  men  who  may  be 
honest;  but,  being  shoremen,  may  after  all  be  only  playing  with 
variations  and  for  his  own  purposes  the  old  tune:  "Play  up  the 
band,  here  comes  the  sailor." 

We  must  learn  to  distinguish  between  men  and  men  and  between 
ideas  and  ideas.  We  can  only  learn  this  through  education.  We 
must  therefore  learn  to  stop,  look  and  watch,  just  as  we  watch  the 
heavens  at  sea  and  the  sea  for  other  vessels  from  the  lookout.  We 
must  learn  to  say  no,  to  refuse  to  give  any  promises  that  we  may 
not  be  able  to  fulfill,  to  refuse  to  enter  into  any  agreement  that  we 
may  not  be  able  or  willing  to  keep.  And  it  matters  not  if  the  urging 
comes  from  fellow  workmen  or  from  employers.  We  can  do  this 
because  as  yet  we  are  free  and  doing  it  we  shall  possibly  be  permitted 
to  keep  our  freedom. 

We  must  learn  that  the  vessel  is  the  tool  with  which  we  work, 
to  keep  it. clean  and  fit  as  the  carpenter  keeps  his  tools  sharp,  clean 
and  fit.  We  must  learn  to  see  clearly  that  the  work  on  the  vessel 
with  its  gear  £nd  equipment  is  our  work  in  port  as  well  as  at  sea.  We 
must  learn  that  a  badly  stowed  vessel  is  a  dangerous  one  and  that 
it  is  our  duty  and  our  right  to  see  that  the  cargo  is  properly  stowed. 

We  must  learn  that  the  vessel,  her  passengers,  gear  and  cargo 
are  intrusted  to  our  care  and  that  we  are  responsible  for  the  safety 
of  it  all.  We  must  try  to  teach  the  owner  that  we  may  be  depended 
upon  while  at  the  same  time  we  teach  him  to  treat  us  as  men  who 
are  free  and  who  are  doing  our  work  because  we  are  free.  In  short 
that  free  men  are  more  dependable  than  bondmen  and  that  he  can 
have  honest  work  from  free  men  only.  We  must  teach  him  that  we 
have  the  same  right  to  choose  our  company  on  the  vessel  that  he 
insists  upon  exercising  for  himself  on  shore.  The  choice  must  take 
place  on  shore  since  there  can  be  no  choice  after  the  vessel  is  at  sea. 
If  the  shipowner  wants  to  compete  he  must  learn  the  value  of  free 
men  and  how  to  treat  them.  Failure  to  learn  this  means  defeat  in 
competition  and  the  passing  frQm  the  field.  With  the  harbor  workers 
we  must  insist  that  they  shall  quit  trying  to  use  us  and  leave  our  work 
alone.  On  that  road  and  on  that  road  only  is  friendship  and  co- 

28 


operation.  He  can  have  our  friendship  and  co-operation  by  ac- 
knowledging our  equal  right  to  self-determination.  It  will  not,  it 
can  not,  be  given  upon  any  other  consideration.  To  the  workers 
on  shore  generally  we  must  learn  to  say :  We  want  your  friendship, 
we  want  your  aid,  we  are  willing  to  give  ours  in  return,  but  only 
upon  the  frank  acknowledgment  that  we  are  your  equals  as  men 
and  must  be  so  treated  in  words  and  manners. 

As  we  resolutely  move  along  this  road  it  will  be  found  more 
joyous  as  we  go  and  we  shall  gain  the  strength  to  meet  the  obstacles 
and  hardships  that  labor  must  soon  meet.  We  shall  learn  to  bear 
the  burdens  that  labor  must  bear.  We  seamen  are  neither  numerous 
nor  strong  enough  to  clear  the  road  or  to  cast  away  the  burdens. 
We  can  do  our  share  if  our  understanding  is  clean  enough  and  our 
will  is  strong  enough,  we  cannot  do  it  otherwise.  May  the  under- 
standing and  the  will  be  ours  to  the  end  that  we  may  do  what  shall 
be  our  duty  and  be  able  to  bear  what  may  be  our  burden.  It  is  thus 
that  we  shall  reconquer  our  true  place  among  men. 


29 


A     000  064  071     4 


"The  bondman  can  feel  no  responsibility;  he  can  have  no  sense  of  morality, 
of  self-respect,  or  of  honor;  because  he  has  no  individual  will.  He  is  alone. 
Association  for  mutual  aid  is  unthinkable.  Deprived  of  his  human  estate  he  is 
degraded  below  the  animal  or  vegetable  kingdoms.  *  *  *  Any  man  compelled 
to  labor  against  his  will,  be  it  by  an  individual  or  by  society,  is  a  bondman.  Let 
the  American  People  beware  of  bondage  being  imposed  upon  any  class.  Tolera- 
tion of  it  by  workers  is  treason  to  American  ideals.  To  resist  it  is  the  highest 
duty  though  the  result  may  be  prison  or  death." 


"The  share  which  any  particular  nation  had  in  the  use  of  and  the  power  on 
the  sea  depended  always  on  the  number  of  its  people  who  obtained  their  living 
by  following  sea  occupations.  Fishermen  on  the  coasts,  later  on  the  banks, 
whalers,  first  in  small  boats  along  the  coasts,  later  in  large  vessels  following  the 
whale  or  seeking  him,  trading  in  their  own  produce,  or  carrying  the  produce  of 
others — these  are  merchant  seamen.  Valuable  cargoes  tempted  others  into  piracy, 
and  the  merchant  vessel  was  armed  to  resist  the  pirate.  These  were  the  early 
fighting  vessels  or  men-o'-war.  In  all  instances  the  men  employed  were  seamen. 
Seamen  were  always  considered  a  special  part  of  the  national  defense. 


"To  develop  a  large  number  of  trained  seamen,  to  foster  and  develop  a 
tendency  to  the  sea  in  the  population,  has  ever  been  the  caret  of  statesmanship. 
Nations  have  fought  over  fishing  grounds,  not  because  of  the  fish  to  be  caught, 
but  the  seamen  to  be  trained  in  the  use  of  those  grounds. 


